"And the two of you became very good friends. I know this, Rhys."
"There were many benefits to our friendship," Rhys continued, ignoring me completely. "There was even a time when I thought I was in love with him."
Okay. So that whole thing about Rhys being in love with Lucien? I didn't know. I decided to shut up and let him tell the story.
"When I realized that his love for me wasn't of the .in-love. type, I made myself scarce for a while, traveled, tried to be one of those jet-setting rich boys that lived off his trust fund." He took another sip of his Scotch and laughed sarcastically. "But I wasn't cut out for that shit. I came home, only to find my apartment wasn't my own anymore. In all my jet-setting, I'd forgotten to pay the rent and had been kicked out."
"So Lucien brought you here?"
"There was some kind of coven function going on and the place was full of people. I wasn't in the mood to hang around, but I felt I at least owed Lucien a feed for letting me stay here until I could find another place. I fed him, we talked a little, but then he called someone over to show me to a room."
"Simon?"
"No, it was one of the house servants. I don't even remember his name now. Simon& He brought a meal up for me an hour later or so, and the moment I laid eyes on him, I was speechless. This ethereal creature just lit up the room in a way I'd never seen before. But I knew one thing for sure: he didn't belong here, not in this house filled with so much blood and darkness.
"I expected him to leave as soon as he put down the tray, but he didn't. He stayed, talking, smiling... blushing." Rhys walked over and refilled his glass before coming back to sit in the chair across from me. He looked up at me and smiled, shaking his head. "You know how you can meet someone and in that very instant, you just know that there's something more than a connection? How it's just soul deep, almost physical in the way you're drawn to each other?"
I nodded.
"I kissed him. I had to. I couldn't sit there any longer, with him only a foot away, and pretend that I didn't feel a thing." Rhys closed his eyes and inhaled, as if he could transport himself back to that very time and place. "He didn't kiss me back.not at first. When I thought he was going to push me away, though, he only pushed me back onto the bed. In all of five minutes we'd managed to jerk each other off in a fit of desperation, but then we spent the entire night talking, touching, and kissing."
I couldn't see Simon doing any of that. "What happened then?"
"Oh, we saw each other for a few weeks, spent time together."
"But?"
"All of a sudden he comes to me and says he can't see me anymore. That what happened between us was a mistake and that it never should have happened. I spent the next couple of months trying to convince him otherwise, but&" Rhys pressed his fingers to his eyes, sighing. "But when he came right out and said he didn't love me, I ran. Left and didn't come back, and if I did, it was only to the club."
"Oh, Rhys."
"And then I come back here, fully expecting that he'd moved on, and I wouldn't have to see him again. In all these years, he hasn't changed a bit. Hell, I always thought he was one of Lucien's donors, one of the humans that tended to the mansion. And then I find out he's not a vampire, not a werewolf, but an angel?"
"None of us knew what Simon was."
"He keeps his secrets well," Rhys snapped. "We talked at Christmas and I thought that we might . might . have a chance at getting past what happened and starting over, but it truly is starting over. He's pulled away from me time and time again, and it seems the more I beg him to talk to me, the more he pulls away."
"I don't know how I can possibly help you out with that."
"There are rumors," he said as he sat forward in the chair, "that some of you know more than the rest of us in the coven do. That there's a lot more unsaid about Simon than there is said. I need to know if there's something wrong with him, if there's some way I can help him, maybe. I mean, I've talked to everyone I could think of, then tried to talk to Nikolas, but he sent me to Sabaan, and Sabaan sent me to you and."
"What I know wouldn't fill a thimble, Rhys."
"I don't believe you."
"As is your right not to. But it changes nothing. I don't know enough to help you. I'm sorry."
"I see," he answered sharply. "Then I'll just get out of your hair, then."
I winced as he turned to go, wishing like hell I could just stop him and tell him what I knew, hoping it would make some sort of difference. But what I knew wouldn't change anything. Still, I hated the lies and the deception, even if they were necessary.